Year: 1973
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Exercise tests were obtained in 357 women aged 20 to 83 years without cardiac disease.The bicycle exercise was submaximal to 86 per cent ofpredicted maximal heart rate, or maximal to the point of voluntary fatigue.Up to 25 per cent of women 20 to 39 years, 50 per cent of women 40 to 59 years, and 66 per cent of women over 6o years, had electrocardiographic abnormalities consistent with ischaemia depending on the criteria used.Until different criteria are established, exercise electrocardiography is of limited value in women.Exercise stress testing with electrocardiographic monitoring is used clinically to confirm or exclude a diagnosis of angina pectoris, and has been used in epidemiological surveys as an indicator of coronary risk.As early as I950, Scherlis et al. noted that, compared to men, normal women were more likely to have electrocardiographic abnormalities after exercise, and these observations were confirmed by Lepeschkin and Surawicz (I958), and by Astrand (i965).Little attention has been directed to this paradox of more women showing electrocardio- graphic evidence of 'ischaemia' on exercise, but less clinical coronary heart disease, and separate criteria for interpreting exercise electrocardiograms have not been established for women.The purpose of this report is to document the frequency of the various types of ST segment changes observed in normal women during and after exercise. Subjects and methodsThree groups of volunteers were recruited: 136 were women hospital workers, i i6 were women attending fit- ness classes at the YMCA, and I05 were tested at farm fairs in rural communities of less than 3,000 inhabitants.Subjects with known coronary or valvular heart disease were eliminated, as were the few who developed angina during the exercise test.The ages of the subjects ranged from 20 to 83 years.The hospital women exercised in a laboratory on an Elema electric bicycle ergometer for 6 minutes at 300, 450, or 600 kpm/minute, depending on age and estimated fitness.After a io-minute test, they then walked on a
Source: Heart
Authors: G R Cumming, C Dufresne, L Kich, J Samm
Institutions: Children's Hospital of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba
Language: English
Topic: ECG Monitoring and Analysis
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2106209564